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Teahouse of the Garden Tools: Before

This rusted and damaged old shed served as a home for garden tools in our backyard. In August 2001, George demolished the old shed and started building a Japanese-inspired "teahouse" for his tools. Before he started work, however, he researched teahouses on the Internet and at San Jose's many local Japanese gardens. Then we drew an outline of their teahouse in the dirt in the backyard—which we are glad we did because George had been planning on making the structure 10 feet by 12 feet, and that would have taken up too much room in the yard. He decided to make it 8 feet by 10 feet instead.
—George and Connie from San Jose, CA